A Connecticut native with an interest in birding shares his outdoor adventures

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Hatchway Warbler And Nestbox Downy

I came home from work the Tuesday night and saw this warbler poking though my lawn. I came back with the camera and took this picture of it standing on the hatchway before it flew off. I didn't see the front of the bird but it looks like a palm Warbler. It has some yellow under the tail and a whitish supercillium which are field marks that were listed in my field guide for fall Palm Warblers. There have been other birds passing though my yard recently including a tiny Blue-gray gnatcatcher that was flitting about in my crabapple tree flashing his white trimmed tail feathers. The most surprising bird I saw was a robust looking Northern Waterthrush which had a nice yellowish wash on its underside. It was in a tree bobbing its tail for a while but flew off after a short visit.

This Downy Woodpecker was making a lot of noise trying to enlarge the opening to this nestbox but I had a metal guard around the hole which prevented House Sparrows from getting in. I removed the metal guard so the downy could chip away at the entrance. I was curious as to what it wanted with the nestbox since I assumed the nesting season for downies would be over by now. Maybe it's just practicing for next year.

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I went on a Hartford Audubon trip last Saturday and we saw 8 Broad-winged Hawks fly over along with a mix of a few other hawks. We saw one adult Bald Eagle but I don't know if it was migrating or just haning out. I'm looking forward to sitting in on a hawk watch at a sight in Massachusetts at Blueberry Hill this weekend. Hopefully conditions will be good so we can see a lot of broadwings. Maybe Fats Domino will show up!

10 comments:

Palm Warbler it is - of the western subspecies 'palmarum' note the mainly buffy underside with prominent yellow undertail coverts. I got an arty shot of one on the West Side Highway in NYC the other day: http://underclearskies.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/palmwire.jpg

I was at my sister's in CT and watched a Downy Woodpecker go into the birdhouse in the garden. He sat inside with his head just inside the opening. He seemed to be staying for the evening. I went inside several times and every time I checked he was still inside the birdhouse. Hum, same unusual behavior by two different Downeys.